Modern navigation systems are generally able to inform their users of upcoming traffic situations to try to avoid travel delay or to get more information about the situations. For example, drivers can often encounter traffic jams on roadways that result in varying degrees of travel delays. Generally, traffic jams can be divided into two categories: recurring traffic jams and non-recurring traffic jams. Recurring traffic jams are, e.g., jams that occur regularly such as during rush hour or at known bottleneck intersections. Non-recurring traffic jams are caused by unexpected incidents such as accidents, breakdowns, etc. Providing information on the specific type of traffic can potentially reduce congestion and improve driver safety. Accordingly, navigation service providers face significant technical challenges classifying the type of traffic jam once the traffic jam is detected to provide users timely information on traffic jams, particularly when trying to classify traffic jams based just on probe data collected (e.g., including vehicle telemetry data) from vehicles traveling the affected roadway.